Characteristics of Puxian Opera

Puxian Opera is one of the ancient operas in Fujian. Puxian Opera, formerly known as Xinghua Opera, is popular in Putian, Xianyou and Xinghua dialect areas in south-central Fujian. Its troupe has traveled all over Fuzhou, Xiamen, Jinjiang, Longxi, Sanming and other cities and overseas Chinese settlements. According to textual research, it was developed and formed on the basis of ancient "hundred operas"

Puxian Opera originated in the Tang Dynasty, was popular in the Song Dynasty, flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and flashed in modern times. Its performance is simple and elegant, and many movements are deeply influenced by puppet shows, full of unique artistic style; Its singing style is rich, which combines the artistic features of Puxian folk songs, ten tones and eight tones, Buddhist music, Song and Yuan Ci, Daqu songs and dances. Singing in dialect, with strong local color. Up to now, many musical elements of Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties have been preserved, which is known as "the living fossil of Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties". There are more than 5,000 kinds of traditional operas in Puxian Opera, among which there are more than 80 kinds of operas that retain the original appearance of Southern Opera in Song, Yuan and South China or have basically similar storylines. After liberation, there are more than 200 outstanding traditional operas of Puxian Opera, including Qin Diao, Sanying, After Reunion, Spring Grass Running to the Moon Hall, Autumn Wind Poems, Tears in the New Pavilion, Leng Yue in the Golden Palace, Ye Liniang, Champion and Beggar, and Jiang Shangxing. Famous playwrights are Chen, Ke Rukuan, and famous actors are Lin Dongzhi, Zhu Shifeng, and Wang.

The Artistic Features of Puxian Opera

The performance of Puxian Opera is simple and elegant, and many actions are deeply influenced by puppet shows. The business of Puxian Opera follows the old rules of Nanxi Opera. Originally, there were only seven roles, such as life, Dan, sticking to life, Ze Dan, beauty (net) and final ugliness, commonly known as "seven sub-classes". Puxian Opera has a profound musical tradition and rich vocals. Up to now, there are still a lot of southern opera music in Song and Yuan Dynasties. The vocal cavity of Puxian Opera is mainly "apricot blossom cavity", which is a kind of vocal cavity with strong local color and flavor. It is composed of Puxian folk songs, ten tones and eight tones, Buddhist music, Song and Yuan lyrics, Daqu songs and dances and so on.

Xinghua folk popular songs and dances absorbed Wu Ge, Songs of the South (see Song's "Mourning, Poems from Yue Wang Tai Yun") and zaju performances, and gradually formed the existing opera stories; There are also operas that combine singing, doing, reading, dancing, dressing and makeup, and perform in the theater shed, which are called excellent operas. During the Song Dynasty, Xinghua's outstanding folk operas were performed in various forms, including zaju, puppet show, singing and dancing, acrobatics and so on.

According to the poems of Liu Kezhuang Zhiren in Putian, Song Dynasty, the stories of Xinghua folk excellent drama performance at that time were: "Hongmen Club" in Liuxia, Chu Han, and "Farewell My Concubine" in Xiang Yu's defeat; The rise and fall of the Jin Dynasty's "East Jin and West Capital": the ancient myth that "Kuafu is getting better every day", and the foreign tributes of "Kunlun slaves offering treasures" and so on. The performance venues include the "theater shed" in the square and the "stage" in the temple. Accompaniment instruments are mainly drums, gongs and flutes (namely gongs and flutes). During the performance, people were very popular. There were so-called "the whole city was busy smoking, most people were in the theater", "no one came out of the empty lane", "the wandering girl came back to look for autumn" and "the shed was deserted, and people seemed to block the wall yesterday; Children somehow called each other into the market to see new sights "(see Liu Kezhuang's Complete Works of Mr. Houcun, Volume 10, Volume 21, Volume 22 and Volume 43).

According to the investigation and study, the traditional repertoire, music qupai and genre of Puxian Opera are closely related to Nanxi Opera. There are more than 5,000 kinds of traditional operas in Puxian Opera, among which there are more than 80 kinds of operas with similar original appearance or storyline, and there are more than 50 kinds of scripts circulating, such as Saving Mother by Mulian, Capturing Wang Kui alive, Cai and Zhang Qia (that is, Zhang Xiezhuangyuan, Zhu Wen, Princess Lechang and Liu). It is the same as or basically similar to the South Opera repertoire recorded in Narrative of Nanci and Old Articles of Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Some qupai in Puxian Opera have the same names, phonology and word forms as Daqu and Song Ci in Tang and Song Dynasties. In particular, Prince You Simen, who only existed in the early South Opera Zhang Xie's champion, is a common qupai in Puxian Opera. Up to now, Puxian Opera still retains many musical heritages of Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties. There are more than 0/000 ballads/kloc, which are called "360 big questions and 720 small questions". The vocal cavity is called "Xinghua cavity", which is composed of Puxian folk songs, folk songs, ten songs, Buddhist music, Tang and Song vocal poems, lyrics, Daqu songs and dances. Singing in Puxian dialect has a strong local color and flavor. The musical instruments in the early stage of Puxian Opera were very simple, with only gongs, drums and flutes like Song, Yuan and South China Opera. Drums use drums, and gongs are called sand gongs. Gongs and drums are used to control stage performances. There are more than 300 kinds of gongs and drums, and the rules are strict. A flute is called a flute tube. There are two kinds of flutes: reed flute and plum blossom. Reed flute, also known as head pipe, is a unique playing instrument in Puxian Opera. The suona plum blossom is also the main musical instrument of Puxian Opera.

Performance characteristics of Puxian Opera

According to the excavated data, the performance of Puxian Opera is a unique performing art developed on the basis of the puppet shows in Tang, Song and Qing Dynasties. During the reign of Emperor Xiantong of Tang Dynasty (860-870), "A Talk on Puquan Lane" contained: "After Sui and Tang Dynasties, Xinghua was full of drama." In 954 AD, Lianjiang Lizhi recorded: "Master Cai's birthday was celebrated, and excellent people presented their skills. The guests took silk limbs as puppet shows." The performing art of Puxian Opera inherits the traditional performance of ancient southern opera left over by wheat for more than two years. The performances in Puxian Opera "Mulian" and other traditional plays have maintained the comprehensive artistic characteristics of Song Zaju and Puppet Opera, and are called "living fossils" of Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties.

The script, qupai, vocal cavity, drum board, performers and action procedures of Puxian Opera in greenhouse are exactly the same as those of a table, two chairs, masks, costumes, hats and props on the stage, and are closely related to the Puppet Manglian Opera, which is the remains of the Puppet Manglian Opera in greenhouse.

The performances in Mulian Opera of Puxian Opera include: Collection of Classics, Three Steps and One Worship by Rob, Eighteen Dances by Liu Sizhen, Toad Worship by Liu Jia, Three Bends by Gu Bei, Male-backed Daughter by the Deaf and so on. From the protagonist to the supporting role, from the characters to the performance specifications, people are used to imitating puppet performances and integrating them.

The basic skills of Puxian Opera actors are always called "puppet core", and their hand movements are "not higher than Yu Mei, not lower than navel". For example, the "lifting step" of the raw angle, the "stepping step" of the Dan angle, the "picking step" of the clean angle and the "seven-step sliding" of the clown all maintain the puppet image. When an actor wants to express the joys and sorrows of the characters, up to now, the basic skill of Puxian opera actors is still to inherit the performance characteristics of puppet shows.

The artistic inheritance of Puxian performers' imitation of puppet shows was also influenced by puppet shows in Song and Yuan Dynasties. When Qin and Weichi Gong fought fiercely in The Return of Two Maces, Qin held two maces, commanded a single whip, and used a puppet style. Doubles, double hook, Shuang Sheng, double drop and puppet show are exactly the same in form, action and figure. Another example is "Su Wu and Li Ling", in which Su Wu walks with the old man with a baton. He and Li Ling made "stopping", "shaking", "rushing to protect" and "fighting" on the stage in the form of "three bends". They are all called "puppet agents" to keep the form and characteristics of people playing puppets; Another example is "Lv Mengzheng Counts Eighteen Arhats", in which Lv Mengzheng imitates the puppet image with two monks, singing and doing the same as the puppet acting skills, with the characteristics of performing harmonious humor and the art of keeping people to perform puppet shows.